Blackberry 10 Music and Video Partners Announced

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Research In Motion has announced its Blackberry 10 music and video partnership deals in an effort to take on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Marketplace. The announcement comes two days ahead of its much anticipated launch.

RIM has partnered up with a number of companies including Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures and Universal Music Group, which will offer content to its revamped Blackberry World Marketplace. The marketplace, initially available in the US, UK and Canada, will offer DRM-free music, TV shows and movies available for purchase or rent. RIM said many of the movies on Blackberry 10 should be available the same day as their DVD release and TV shows the day after airing.

Analysts are calling the Blackberry 10 launch RIM’s last chance to regain market share it lost to iOS and Android. The company once held almost half of the US smartphone market and today only accounts for 5.3 percent, according to recent data.

RIM is hoping that bulking up its music and video content offerings on Blackberry 10 will help drive consumers away from Apple’s iOS and Android devices. Analysts say that music and video content is one of the primary reasons why consumers choose one platform over another. Apple has done this particularly well, dominating music and video content with iTunes. However, Google Play and Amazon Marketplace also offer similar shows, movies and music choices for competitive prices.

BlackBerry World is also expected to have an app store with about 70,000 apps when the new BlackBerry 10 launches, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins recently told a German newspaper. But it still has a long way to go to catch up with Android and iOS operating systems. For reference, Google Play and iTunes App Store have more than 700,000 apps available.

Rumors about the launch of the Blackberry 10 abound. The new smartphone is reportedly an all-touch model that will be called the BlackBerry Z10. It’s rumored to have a 4.2 inch screen and an 8-megapixel camera.

The BlackBerry 10 launch event will take place on January 30 in New York at 10AM EST.

Cassie Slane is a technology and consumer products expert and appears as an electronics guest on QVC and Philly's Fox 29 Channel. She has been a producer and writer for major media outlets including Bloomberg News, CNBC, and CNN.